Four-Eyed Cat Eagle—Flender! (Thanks to Brother Kou for the monthly ticket support~)

"I'm saying, if you're going to put on an act, at least make it convincing."

"A Soul Elder who hasn't even used a single soul skill defeating a level 49 Soul Ancestor... people will start questioning your true strength."

Hearing this, Taishi Ci sighed helplessly.

Then, beneath the expectant gazes of the audience, the first soul ring beneath his feet finally lit up!

First Soul Skill—One Rider Against a Thousand!

A majestic phantom warhorse suddenly appeared beneath Taishi Ci, lifting him into the air.

Just as the ice blades formed from the countless ice blossoms were about to fall upon him, man and horse suddenly vanished from where they stood!

However, because the ice blossoms were so densely packed, they blocked the spectators' view instead.

Everyone thought that attack had hit, yet no one saw that man and horse had already disappeared!

A loud bang rang out.

Ice mist immediately spread outward like an avalanche from where Taishi Ci had just been standing.

It even reached the audience stands, leaving the spectators' cheeks icy cold and obscuring the view of the arena.

"Who won?"

Someone asked in a trembling voice.

Yet as the ice mist gradually dispersed, everyone's pupils suddenly shrank!

The long-armed man on horseback had not fallen. Instead, at some point, he had arrived behind the female Soul Ancestor!

An iron halberd was already resting against the female Soul Ancestor's neck.

If he wished, he could behead her in an instant!

The Soul Arena fell silent for three seconds before the atmosphere erupted—

"That female Soul Ancestor actually lost?! And to a three-ring Soul Elder? That's too ridiculous!"

"But this Soul Elder truly is extraordinary! His first soul ring is purple, which shows just how terrifying his physical strength must be!"

"No, this isn't reasonable! I suspect he isn't a Soul Elder at all! He's a Soul King, or perhaps even a Soul Emperor, hiding his true strength!"

"..."

Listening to the discussions in the stands, Zhuge Ming thought that there really were clever people among the audience.

But they were only suspicious.

Taishi Ci had undergone a soul power test and possessed official certification. Their suspicions were useless.

Unless they could truly uncover Taishi Ci's real strength, no one could overturn the result of this match!

At this moment, Ye Rui felt the chill and faint sting at her neck.

Having already used every means at her disposal, she knew the outcome had been decided. Her shoulders slumped as she said helplessly:

"I lost..."

"But!"

Her tone shifted as she prepared to question Taishi Ci's true strength.

Yet the moment she turned around, an iron Soul Arena badge was thrown toward her. She hurriedly caught it.

On the back of the badge was the soul power level verified through testing: level 40!

Taishi Ci knew that this woman was questioning his real strength.

So, following his lord's instructions, he directly presented this "ironclad evidence" before her.

Seeing the officially verified soul power level, Ye Rui immediately sighed.

She knew there were three possible explanations.

Either the officials did not want her making money this way anymore, so they deliberately found an expert capable of concealing his strength to defeat her.

Or this man truly was only a Soul Elder, albeit a terrifying existence found once in ten thousand.

The final possibility was that this man's true strength was great enough to deceive even the official soul power detection...

No matter which possibility it was, she had no way to deny the result of this match.

She could neither afford to offend this great Soul Arena jointly established by the seven major families nor defeat the man before her.

She could only swallow this loss and hand over this precious soul tool to him.

She had originally wanted to use this soul tool to make a huge profit.

In the end, she had still underestimated this great Soul Arena and Barak City.

There were indeed hidden dragons and crouching tigers here...

At a corner of the audience stands, a middle-aged man who looked to be in his fifties, with a hooked nose and crystal glasses, was staring at the two people on the stage.

A smile that seemed to see through everything curved across his lips. Then he rose to his feet and left the great Soul Arena...

Although many spectators questioned Taishi Ci's true strength, the parties involved had acknowledged the result, so their doubts were meaningless.

Taishi Ci accepted the soul tool called [Storage Crown] from Ye Rui. After confirming there was nothing wrong with it, he put it away.

As this wager match came to an end, everyone left one after another. Taishi Ci also departed the great Soul Arena with Zhuge Ming.

Although the great Soul Arena was a good place to make money, he already possessed the tax revenue of an entire city. He did not lack this little bit of money.

Zhuge Ming took the Storage Crown handed over by Taishi Ci and infused it with soul power, discovering that its storage space was about ten cubic meters.

Though it could not compare to Tang San's Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges, it was still quite good.

Of course, the soul tool was completely empty.

Before handing it over to Taishi Ci, Ye Rui had already emptied everything inside.

Perhaps she had not expected to lose, because simply clearing out its contents had taken her quite a while.

Zhuge Ming shrank the soul tool into a bracelet and securely slipped it around his wrist.

Now that he had obtained this storage soul tool and arrived in this large city, he planned to buy some local specialties to bring back for his mother and older sister.

In addition, he remembered that Flender, the headmaster of Shrek Academy, was also selling things in this city.

Tang San's Dragon Beard Needle, which could pierce protective soul power and qi barriers, had been obtained from Flender.

This was Tang San's opportunity, so naturally he intended to take it away.

Before long, Zhuge Ming and Taishi Ci bought many novel and interesting items.

The ten cubic meters of storage space in the [Storage Crown] was instantly filled by nearly a third.

At this point, the two of them finally arrived before an unusual shop.

The storefront was not large, but the sign hanging above its entrance bore the engraving of a sword, a hammer, and a Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon.

It was exactly the same as the design on Yu Xiaogang's Spirit Hall authorization token.

If he had not guessed wrong, this should be Flender's shop!

The shop was lit inside, and the two of them pushed the door open and entered.

Very soon, he saw a middle-aged man with a hooked nose and crystal glasses standing behind the counter.

Judging from his appearance, Zhuge Ming concluded that he was likely the Four-Eyed Cat Eagle—Flender!

Flender did not seem surprised by their arrival. His expression was calm, and he even wore a faint smile.

This made Zhuge Ming feel somewhat strange.

When Tang San had first visited this shop, Flender's attitude had been extremely poor. He had been nowhere near this friendly.

Was it because they were dressed more like wealthy people? Or was it because his temper had not yet become as bad as it would be later?

Though he did not know the reason, he remained wary.

At that moment, Flender asked politely:

"What would you two guests like to buy?"

"Just looking around."

Zhuge Ming did not reveal his purpose.

His gaze swept across the shelves, where he found many old and worn items.

Before long, he spotted a head-sized yellow crystal placed in a corner of the shelf!

It was the piece of crystal containing plate crystal gold that Tang San would later want to buy!